Permissions and Rights Question and Answer for Authors

Authors of submitted manuscripts in American Heart Association journals are required to sign a Authorship Responsibility and Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA).

Q) Where can I find the CTA?
A) The Instructions to Authors page for each AHA journal has links to the CTA form.

Q) Do all authors have to sign a CTA?
A) Yes, all authors have to sign a CTA.

Q) What happens if the AHA journal does not accept a manuscript?
A) Rights revert back to the authors.

Q) Can I post my article on the Internet?
A) Corresponding authors will receive “toll-free” links to their published article. This URL can be placed on an author’s personal or institutional web site. Those who click on the link will be able to access the article as it published online in the AHA journal (with or without a subscription). Should coauthors or colleagues be interested in viewing the article for their own use, authors may provide them with the URL; a copy of the article may not be forwarded electronically. Other versions of the article (including preprints) may not be posted on the Internet unless at the request of a funding body (see the next question).

Q) My manuscript was funded in whole or part by funds from the National Institutes of Health or another funding body that requests that I deposit the “accepted version” of my manuscript on PubMedCentral or an insitutional repository. What do I do?
A) Authors when submitting their manuscripts to PubMed Central or repositories of other funding bodies are required to specify a time-frame for the availability of their article to the public on PubMedCentral. The AHA permits, and requires, that the time frame you specify is no earlier than 6 months after publication in the AHA journal. The copyright transfer agreement you sign gives you the rights to make the accepted article public on a repository such as PubMed Central no earlier than 6 months after publication. This will meet the NIH request to make articles funded in whole or part by NIH funds publicly available and meet the requests of most funding bodies, but please check your requirements carefully. Additionally, when the editor requests the final revision of your manuscript, you will be required to insert the following language on the title page:

This is an un-copyedited author manuscript that was accepted for publication in (journal name), copyright The American Heart Association. This may not be duplicated or reproduced, other than for personal use or within the “Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials” (section 107, title 17, U.S. Code) without prior permission of the copyright owner, The American Heart Association. The final copyedited article, which is the version of record, can be found at (journal URL). The American Heart Association disclaims any responsibility or liability for errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or in any version derived from it by the National Institutes of Health or other parties.

This language is not required on manuscripts that have not been funded by a body such as the NIH that is requesting authors to deposit accepted versions of manuscripts in a repository.

For more information on the NIH and PubMedCentral please visit http://nihms.nih.gov.

Q) Can I reuse my figures and tables in future works without asking permission?
A) Yes. The current CTA states “Authors may use parts of the work(e.g., tables, figures) in subsequent works without requesting permission from the AHA.”

Q) Can I make copies of my article for my lectures, classroom teaching and other educational use?
A) Yes, provided you cite the original source and copyright notice. See also “Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials” (section 107, title 17, U.S. Code)

Q) I want to use figures or tables or other content from an AHA journal but I am not an author of the original article.
A) Please visit http://circ.ahajournals.org/misc/Permissions.pdf for permissions information.

Q) How can I order reprints of my article?
A) For questions regarding reprints please e-mail reprints{at}lww.com or call 1-800-341-2258 or order online at http://www.lww.com/periodicals/authorreprints.

For all other permissions questions please e-mail e-mail reprints{at}lww.com or contact Permissions & Rights Desk, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 351 West Camden Street, Baltimore, MD 21202-2436. Phone: 410-5280-4050. Fax: 410-528-8550